IGEE at Yonsei University

The average menstruation period for a woman is estimated to be around 40-50 years. These women use menstruation equipment such as disposable pads, tampons, reusable pads or menstruation cups throughout this period of their lives. However, there has been a recent surge of concern over the rise of women who use disposable pads despite the health warnings that it poses. In 2017, studies showed the possibility of toxic chemicals within disposable sanitary pads, causing an uprise of fear. These warnings continued to aggravate itself as the Korean Ministry of Food and Safety announced in 2020 that 98.4% of disposable sanitary pads may contain carcinogens.

Disposable pads aren’t simply a health threat to individuals; it is also a pollutive factor that causes detrimental harm to our environment. An average woman is known to create around 1 ton of menstrual equipment waste throughout their lives; and when disposed, it has been found that 90% of the products are not biodegradable and ultimately incinerated while releasing toxic chemicals into the atmosphere. Hence, the usage and need for sustainable menstrual products for women is a pressing issue that concerns multiple SDG goals, such as Good Health and Well-Being, Climate Action as well as Responsible Consumption and Production. We wish to investigate further into this topic and discover how to encourage more women to covert to the use of sustainable products for their menstruation. The discourse surrounding this matter, especially in Korea, is limited as of the current status quo and we wish to raise more awareness about the importance of sustainability in sanitary products for women.

Our study aims to achieve several goals, the main one being that we wish to:

1. Understand the factors that influence the consumption of disposable sanitary products. It is important to investigate how factors such as convenience, price, lack of access and concern of leakage etc. are prioritised by women when choosing which sanitary product they deem is suitable for their lifestyle.

2. Investigate whether the use of alternative products such as menstrual cups or reusable pads can alleviate skin trouble or other adverse reactions that may be caused by the material from disposable sanitary pads. We wish to conduct an imperial experiment observe any difference in comfort and menstrual symptoms depending on which sanitary product is used.

3. Assess the overall perception of sustainable sanitary products among young adult when in Korea. We wish to understand the level of knowledge surrounding the environmental benefits and harms of each products, and see whether the women are knowledgeable of all of the alternative choices that they have access to. We also wish to explore whether there is an existence of stigma surrounding the use of products such as menstruation cups and reusable pads that may be used more than once compared to dispensary items.

To this end, we wish to conduct a series of empirical studies to assess the current status quo of the perception and physical consumption of menstrual equipment in our local community. After collecting this information, we are aiming to create an application/website that contains a guide to the sustainable products that are accessible to them. This application will contain information on how to use each sanitary product, how to dispose of unused sanitary pads in a sustainable manner, and links to websites wherein they can purchase the products.

▶ Activity up to September 2023

▶ Activity up to Januray 2024.